A Fidelitas Introduction to e-Gaming

Gambling in Costa Rica

A branch of a foreign company operating in Costa Rica must appoint a Costa Rican resident as its legal representative with full power of attorney on matters concerning the business of the branch.

Apart from establishing an appropriate corporate form setting up and running a business in Costa Rica will require application for a business license from the local Municipality where the business is to operate, registration with the Costa Rican Revenue Administration, and if there are to be staff, registration of the company as an employer under the Costa Rican Social Security System.

There is a relatively sophisticated legal infrastructure in place with businesses having a wide choice of structures under which to operate including limited partnerships, limited liability companies and sole proprietorships. Although Costa Rica is a civil code jurisdiction trusts can be created under its Commercial Code.

Costa Rica Online Gambling Licensing
While the Central American country Costa Rica is home to more than 200 online gambling companies, it does not actually have legislation specifically designed to deal with gambling over the Internet. The Costa Rican government is of the opinion that the act of wagering does not take place at the location of the operator’s gaming servers, so companies residing in the country are able to legally offer Internet wagers to customers all over the world as long as they refuse to accept wagers from individuals located in Costa Rica.

Because of the absence of legislation dealing with online gambling, the businesses and operations of Costa Rica-based gaming companies are not subject to the regulations, monitoring, and testing to which most offshore governments subject their licensees. Most companies are self-regulated. Because there is no official regime to recognize license holders, there is no betting or gaming tax. Instead, companies operate under a “data processing” license.

Government has introduced a new law for obtaining an online gaming license. The new license clearly states “internet gaming” as the licensed business activity. It takes 1-2 months to process the license and have it registered.

 E-Gambling in Malta

Overview of Malta’s E-Gambling

• Licences for casino-type games, betting, betting exchanges, gaming platforms, online casino, casino-style games and lotteries
• Competitive licence fees and attractive corporate tax regime
•  Economic and political stability, membership in EU
• Serious, credible, industry-specific regulation, ensuring players’ trust in an operator licensed in Malta and reducing operators’ exposure to fraud and money-laundering risks
• High levels of professional services and reasonable professional fees and other costs

Malta offers the E-Gaming Industry a package that few other jurisdictions can match. The Remote Gaming Regulations issued in early 2004 by the Lotteries and Gaming Authority continue to enhance on the existing rules and further enhances Malta’s reputation as a jurisdiction to be trusted by both players and operators.

The Authority will grant licenses to operate gaming offices to such persons who have demonstrated “appropriate business ability to conduct the betting office successfully”.

The new Remote Gambling regulations extend the licensing regime to cover general gaming, betting, betting exchanges, and casino platforms

Types of Licences

Class 1 – Online Gaming License;

Class 2 – Online betting office license or an online betting exchange office license;

Class 3 – License to promote and abet gaming from Malta (includes betting exchanges & poker operations)

Class 4 – License to host and manage online gaming operators, excluding the licensee himself.

Licensing Requirements
Obtaining a gaming licence in Malta is a serious affair and in the interest of the consumers and the local reputation, the Authority would require to know that the applicant can meet the licence obligations. The licensing procedure is quite extensive but thanks to the professionalism of the persons involved, this procedure should not take more than 5 to 6 weeks.

The application for a gaming licence requires the following documentation:

1.Detailed profile of the promoting company
2.A copy of the last audited accounts of the promoting company, where applicable
3.A business plan indicating the economic activity – including job creation if any – which will be carried out from Malta
4.A plan of the premises earmarked for adoption as a call centre.
5.Personal details of all shareholders having more than 5% interest in the local operations.

Basic Requirements
Both hardware and software involved in the operations must be located in Malta, and there exist companies that can provide this service without the need for the licensee to obtain its own premises.

The activities of the International Trading Company are limited to those carried outside Malta. No Maltese resident is permitted to place bets with such a company.

E-Gambling in Isle of Man

Reports suggest that online gambling accounts for around 8% of the industry in the Isle of Man as a whole. The island’s gaming commission has recognized the need for a quick and efficient licensing process, consistently delivering a 10 – 12 week turnaround for new applicants. Sublicenses are also available for those who wish to use another licensed operator’s platform, negating costly software development fees. The value to the islands economy is not undervalued and government grants of up to 40% of relocation, marketing, hardware and software costs can be applied for annually. Grants of up to 50% of training costs are also available.